LYNN, MASS. (WHDH) - A woman from Brockton pleaded guilty this week to accepting money in exchange for issuing passing learner’s permit test scores at a Registry of Motor Vehicles facility, according to officials.
The Department of Justice announced on Friday that the Brockton RMV service center’s former manager, Mia Cox-Johnson, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiring to commit extortion.
Authorities said Cox-Johnson took money in exchange for agreeing to give passing scores on learner’s permit tests for passenger vehicle driver’s licenses and Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs).
“Between December 2018 and October 2019, Cox-Johnson conspired to take money in exchange for agreeing to give customers passing scores on their multiple-choice learner’s permit tests even if they did not pass,” the DoJ stated in a press release. “These customers were told to request a paper test instead of taking the test on the RMV computer. Cox-Johnson scored these customers’ paper tests.”
The DoJ detailed how Cox-Johnson accepted $1,000 on Dec. 28, 2018, delivered from a friend on behalf of another individual, in exchange for giving a passing score to said individual’s relative.
According to the authorities, the relative in question had “failed the passenger vehicle learner’s permit test six times when taking it in their native language.”
“Cox-Johnson did, in fact, pass the relative’s test, which was taken on paper in English,” the DoJ stated.
In another instance on Oct. 21, 2019, an RMV customer took three tests they needed to pass to get a commercial learner’s permit.
According to the DoJ, Cox-Johnson accepted $200 from an individual to score the customer as if they had passed the tests, even if they didn’t pass.
“In fact, the applicant failed one of the tests, but Cox-Johnson scored the applicant as having passed all three tests,” the DoJ stated.
According to the DoJ, charges of extortion under color of official right and conspiracy to commit extortion can lead to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Sentencing for the former manager is scheduled for July 20.
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